Bethel Elementary School Teacher Strives To Better Student Literacy And Math Skills With New Materials

Published Friday, June 29, 2012 at 1:02 pm

By Anthony Wyatt

June 29, 2012. Melissa Miller, a local sixth grade teacher at Bethel Elementary School, is seeking the aid of the community to make sure her classroom can be well stocked with books and calculators for the upcoming school year. Through the website DonorsChoose.org, Ms. Miller is hoping to raise funds to purchase these items and provide her students with the materials they need to get ahead.

“Kids who don’t like reading simply have not discovered the right book yet,” Ms. Miller writes on DonorsChoose.org. “My classroom is filled with a diverse group of students who have a plethora of interests and curiosities. We need a classroom library that is stocked with a variety of books so that everyone can discover the joys of reading!”

To make her classroom library varied and expansive enough to meet her students’ needs, Ms. Miller is asking for the community to help her in purchasing 24 news books. From the historical fiction novel “Number the Stars” by Lois Lowry to Paul Fleischman’s fictional poetry book for children entitled “Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices,” the range of works Ms. Miller is hoping to add is sure to be appealing to many of her student readers.

In addition to broadening her capacity to meet students’ reading needs, Ms. Miller is also seeking to update her classroom with a new set of calculators meant specifically for the math her sixth graders are learning.

“Can you image trying to crunch complex mathematical operations on a basic functions calculator?” she writes. “My students are working with calculators that are recommended for students in lower grade levels and [they] have to share these calculators because there are not enough for everyone. This project will provide students with the most up-to-date calculators to be used throughout the school year.”

By providing students with adequate calculators and books, the capacity for them to grow in learning will be substantially increased. However, without the support and generosity of the community Ms. Miller will not have the funds to purchase the materials she needs for her classroom.

“My students are active, eager learners and work hard to achieve their personal and academic goals,” she writes. “Our community is so important to our schools and the support it has provided has been incalculable. Please consider donating and supporting the future of our children!”